The House of Light
by copperlight
Summary: It was no city of light but it was pretty damn good. John Murphy was looking for a new start. Taryn was just looking for a beginning. What happens when Murphy finds the mysterious lighthouse has an inhabitant? (Set after season 2 finale.)
1. Chapter 1

He walked into the lighthouse and couldn't believe what he saw. It wasn't any city of light, but maybe it was better. There was electricity, lights, music, food, motorcycles, and booze. Jokes on you Jaha, that's what you get for leaving me for dead, Murphy thought. After Jaha Craig off the boat, Murphy was done taking a leap of faith with him. His arm was killing him from that sea monster bite, but suddenly he didn't care. He walked over to the counter and opened some of the food packages, he was starving. He hadn't any food or water in days.

He walked over to the other side of the room and sat down in a chair. It had been so long since he sat in real furniture. Maybe there was a bed somewhere he could sleep in. He was so exhausted between crossing the desert, then an ocean and listening to Jaha go on and on about having faith the whole time.

When she heard someone open the door and she ran downstairs. Could it finally be her parents after all this time? She had kept the light on even after losing hope that they'd ever come back. She just wanted someone to show up so she didn't have to be alone anymore.

As she is going down the stairs she hears the video and knows it's not her parents. There would be no reason for them to watch it again. She rounds the corner at the bottom of the stairs and sees a boy sitting on the chair in front of the television. He's eating the crackers she never put away last night and drinking some of the scotch. Sure help yourself to my stuff she thinks, although in truth she doesn't really care. He can have whatever he wants, she just is glad to see another human being, finally. The gunshot on the video makes her jump even though she's heard it many times before.

The boy turns off the television and gets up looking for more to eat. She can see his face now and see he is covered in blood on his face and his arm. His arm is wrapped up, he must have gotten bitten by the sea monster.

When he turns around he sees her standing by the wall, "whoa… hey…" he says.

She freezes; she's never heard another person's voice besides her parents. He speaks with an accent that she doesn't recognize, her parents had a forest native accent. He has something else… and it's beautiful. She loves his voice and he's only said two words. What clan could he be from? She had only known what the people of her parent's clan looked and sounded like because they always kept up the traditions of the clan even though they were so far away.

She realizes she's been looking at him a little too long without saying anything, "Hello, I'm Taryn."

Murphy thinks about it for a second and then responds, "John." Now that he's trying to start over, away from the 100, the Ark, and the Skybox, he doesn't want to be Murphy anymore.

She smiles feeling more relaxed just from knowing his name, "Well John, how about I fix up that arm?"

"You don't know me, why would you want to help me?" Murphy says.

She smirks, "You're right, perhaps I am more trusting of a stranger than I should be. Follow me."

She didn't give him an answer to his question, but he decides to follow her anyway. Watching her long black hair sway as she walks up the stairs. She leads him to a room that looks a lot like the med bay back on the Ark. Very clinical, with an examination table, sink, cabinets, and some chairs. It all looks so clean. Something Murphy hasn't seen in a long time.

"Sit down here," she pulls out a chair and he does as she says. "Take off your jacket so I can see your arm."

After his jacket is off she starts pulling off the scrap of cloth Jaha put on him as a bandage. Taryn observes the wound for a minute and then says, "Okay, I can stitch this up and you should be fine. You lost some blood though so you should rest." She gets up and pulls supplies out of a cabinet.

"Whoa what the hell is that?" John says when he sees her filling a syringe. Where did she get all of the medical supplies?

She smirks again. She does that a lot, "painkillers." She says and walks over putting the needle in his arm.

"Thanks," it hurts like hell and he's not about to turn down painkillers. Even though the grounders stabbed him, beat him, and tortured him until he wanted to die, he still feels the pain of the bite.

She cleans the wound and stitches it up, then wraps it in fresh bandages. She hands something out to him, "take these to prevent infection, here's some water. If it starts hurting again I can give you some more painkillers. You'll have a nasty scar, but it should heal up fine."

"Wouldn't be my first scar. Where did you learn to do this?" he asks genuinely wanting to know what she is about.

She shrugs like it's nothing, "my parents."

His brows scrunch together; he hasn't seen or heard anyone else here. "Where are you parents?"

Pain passes over here face so quickly he almost misses it, but it's there. So she had issues with her parents like he did. "There not here. So John, would you like a shower?" she asks.

He hasn't had a proper shower or bath since he was back on the Ark and since then he's been covered in dirt and blood more than once over. "Hell yes."

That smirk again, "I thought so, come 'on." She leads him to one of the two bathrooms in the lighthouse. "You shower and I'll go get you some new clothes. Then I'll show you around."

"You promise to answer my questions this time?"

She chuckles slightly, "yes John I will answer any questions that you have." She turns around and leaves the room.

Murphy takes off his ripped, bloody, dirt caked clothes and gets in the shower. He stays in a very long time, never feeling like he can get clean. God, he'd never thought he'd have an actual shower again.


	2. Chapter 2

When he steps out of the shower he sees Taryn left clothes by the door. She brought him pants and a sweatshirt, and even boxers. Where did she get those? Murphy dries off and puts the clothes on then catches himself in the mirror He looks like shit even though he's just showered for probably an hour. His face and especially lips are dry and cracked from going through the desert. He doesn't look his best but it'll have to do. And who cares anyway?

When he walks out of the bathroom Taryn is waiting in the hall. "Feel better?" Murphy nods. She just smiles. She shows more with her expressions than she does with her words.

"Come 'on I'll show you around the place." She leads him down the hallway and up more stairs. Once they get to where they're going she stops and turns to him. "This is the greenhouse, its solar powered just like everything else in this place. I've got a ton of fruits and vegetables. Hopefully you're hungry."

Oh, he was hungry; he thought he might never not feel hungry again. Between rationing up on the ark and the scarcity of food down here he was definitely hungry. "Most definitely. Does anyone else live here?" She hadn't mentioned anyone and he hadn't seen or heard anyone else in the house.

She leads him back down the stairs, "no, it's just me."

Just her? How long has she been here by herself? Murphy follows her down the stairs and into a kitchen, "Soo, how did you end up here?" Taryn stands behind the kitchen counter looking for something.

"I've lived here my whole life. My parents found this place when my mom was pregnant with me," she stops fiddling and looks at Murphy. He can see there's something there she doesn't want to talk about, but she continues anyway. "My parents belonged to a clan from the forest beyond the ocean and the desert. My dad…he was supposed to marry someone of a high status like him. He was a leader and a warrior, but he fell in love with my mom. When she realized she was pregnant with me, my dad knew the clan would kill her right after she had me. So they left. They were trying to get as far away as they could so they could be together, and they found this place." She pulls out what she was looking for, a beer and hands it to him. Her dad liked to make it, and she made some too once in a while just to feel close to him.

Murphy takes it and takes a long drink. "No one else was already living here? I mean this place is utopia compared to out there." He is determined to figure her out just like he does with everyone.

"That man…the one in the video. His bones were still on the couch…so my parents assumed no one had been here since him. And no one ever bothered us so I guess they were right." She looks down because what she tells him next is so painful to talk about, and even more so with a stranger. Even though to her everyone is a stranger. "But then… My mom got sick. There are medical supplies here, but that's useless unless you know what's wrong. We didn't, so my dad decided to take my mom back to the forest to try and find a clan with a healer that would help her." She looks back to Murphy's face and he looks sympathetic, something she wasn't expecting from a stranger. "That's was 2 years ago….They never came back. You're the first person I've ever met."

"You've never known anyone else? Just your parents?" Murphy can't believe she's been in this light house all by herself for 2 whole years. And she hasn't gone crazy? How could that be possible? He got put in solitary for a week when he got into a fight in the skybox, and being locked up alone like that made him restless and anxious. She's been here alone for 2 years waiting for her parents to return. Murphy had a bad history with his parents too, but he can't imagine how it must feel to wait for them for all that time and then never know what happened to them. At least he knows his dad got floated, he didn't have to sit around and wonder. Murphy felt something for her, like sympathy. He didn't feel sorry for her, he could already tell she wasn't the kind of person that wanted people feeling sorry for them. But he did feel something that he found difficult to explain to himself. Like he wanted to protect her and make sure she didn't have to sit in this light house alone for any longer.

"No one has ever come here; the desert and the ocean are so dangerous that no one makes it." She pauses for a moment seemingly to be lost in her own thoughts. Then looks up and puts on a smile that he can tell she has to force, after everything she just confessed to a total stranger. "You're probably in need of some rest, there's a bedroom you can have down the hall." She walks down the hall and Murphy follows. "Here you are, my room is just back up one set of stairs and first door on the right. If you need anything you can come in and wake me up."

"Okay, thanks for this." She gives him a small smile and goes back to the kitchen.

Murphy lies down in the bed and thinks about Taryn and all she has had to deal with. Living in isolation her entire life, her parents going a-wal. She's never met another person before and yet she was so trusting and open to letting him stay that she never even asked him one thing about himself or where he came from. She was probably just desperate to have to human interaction. But what would she think of him if she knew about all of the bad stuff he's done, he thought as he drifted off to sleep. He could finally sleep in peace, and in a bed. A fucking bed. This _is_ the promise land.

Taryn goes back to the kitchen. She made John think she was going to her room to go to sleep, but she doesn't sleep much. It just never feels safe to sleep with no one else here, she just fears that someone will come in while she sleeps and try to take her home away.

She doesn't quite understand why she trusts John so much already. She has to admit to herself that it was dangerous and stupid of her to not ask him anything about himself or what he's doing here. But for some reason Taryn just couldn't help letting him in, she didn't want to be here alone any longer and he didn't seem like he wanted to hurt her. But where had he come from? And how did he get here alive?

She needed someone here to help her protect this place. She had no delusions, she knew that here parents would never come back. They'd likely died before they even made it across the ocean.

When they never returned she feared that she would live the rest of her life alone in the lighthouse, but she still hoped that someone would come across it. There were so many times she wished she could just leave and find a new place to call home where there were other people. But in truth she was just too scared to leave. She had it good here, food, electricity, water. But not having anyone to share those things with made her even lonelier. Her parents had told her how life was out there, full of conflict and starvation. They said that out there people were just surviving day to day, but in here she could have a life to live. But what kind of a life could she really have living in this lighthouse on her own? She'd eventually die in here and her body lies there for 97 years just like the man in the video. She was only 17 years old and being in isolation was already taking a toll on her.

When Murphy wakes up the next morning he feels more rested than he thought he could. This place is amazing but he still feels unsure if he should stay. This lighthouse was her home and he was intruding on it. She shouldn't be so trusting when she didn't know anything about him or what kind of person he was. He decides that he needs to talk to her about it. She deserves to know the truth about him before she decides if she wants him to stay.

He leaves the bedroom and finds Taryn in the kitchen again.

She smiles wide, "Good morning!" She thinks about how nice it is to see another human being in the morning, it reminds her of having breakfast with her parents.

"Morning." His voice is rough, indicating that he has just woken up. Taryn finds it attractive though she doesn't know why. She's never met a boy before so she'd probably find anything he did attractive. He sits down on a stool opposite of her.

"You slept for like 13 hours, are you hungry? I can get you something."

Had he really slept that long? Fuck he had never slept that long or that good in his life he thought. And he was really hungry, "yeah, sure thanks."

She smiled again. He noticed she was always smiling as a response instead of saying anything. But he didn't care, it's not like he was much of a talker either. He thought she did have a really nice smile though. The kind of smile that makes you feel warm. She started around the kitchen getting him something to eat and he remembered what he had to talk to her about.

"You don't want me to stay here. I'm not the kind of guy you should be trusting." Murphy says in a serious tone.

She looks up from what she's doing feeling worried that he will leave. "Please, stay. I do trust you, I don't care what you did out there. Just be a good person in here." She pleads.

He needs her to know what he did before she can decide whether to trust him. It wouldn't be fair to stay here and keep the truth from her. "I killed 2 people Taryn! I paralyzed someone! I'm dangerous," Murphy yells even though he wasn't intending to. At the time he thought killing Connor and Myles was justified revenge, but he did felt guilty for it. And for crippling Raven for the rest of her life, he couldn't forgive himself for that. She'd live in pain for the rest of her life because of him. Staying here would mean he didn't have to see her every day, or anyone else at camp Jaha that reminded him of all the shit he did.

Taryn thinks for a minute, but those things don't matter to her because she can see that John is trying to be better, "That doesn't change what I said. But I'll ask you this, will you hurt me?"

He doesn't need to think about it, he is done hurting people. "No, I won't."

"That's all I need to know. I want you to stay." She says decidedly. She's made up her mind.

Murphy thinks about it for a moment before he responds. He was looking for a new start to forget all that happened, and this lighthouse was the better than he thought he would find when he set out with Jaha. He shoves his hands through his hair, "Alright…I mean...fuck, I guess I'd be crazy to leave this place wouldn't I?"

She laughs, and he is surprised that he finds himself loving the sound. "Yeah, you would. But there are some things that I need to tell you about this place."

He gives her a confused look, "Yeah, like what?"

The lighthouse had protected her and her family her whole life but she knew there were also dangers near her. "When you were outside, did you see the drones?" She asks handing the plate of food she had promised.

"Yeah…we followed them here."

Her eyes go big, "Wait, we? You didn't arrive here alone?"

"Um no, I was with a group and two of us made it ashore. I was injured and the asshole left me on the beach to follow the drone."

"Oh."

He doesn't the look of worry on her face, "What do you mean oh?"

She looks at him seriously, "Listen to me carefully John. If you go outside, do not follow the drones. There's a large house about a mile east of here. The drones will try to get you to follow them there. Don't. Do not go to that house. If your friend ended up there you will likely not see him again."

Murphy scoffed at the thought, Jaha was definitely not his friend. He followed him here for a new start, not because he liked the guy. After Jaha floated his father, Murphy would always hate him. "Why? What's in the house?"

"It where Alie lives, the woman that the man in the video was talking about. It's an artificial intelligence that looks just like a real woman. The man created her…but I guess she turned against him somehow. I don't know all the details. From my understanding she's the one that set off the bombs that caused the nuclear war. She hates the human race. She will kill any human that she finds. Promise me you will not go there. Please John." She warns him and pleads at the same time.

Murphy finds himself liking when she says his name. "You're saying that a computer got a mind of its own and destroyed the fucking earth? That's not the story they told us on the Ark." He's not sure what he should believe. What Taryn is saying, a girl he's known for less than a day? Or the leaders on the Ark. He hated the council but he never considered that they hadn't got their story straight. Taryn and her parents were born here though, so she might know more about what happened 97 years ago than the people on the Ark could.

"On the what?" She asks confused about what he's going on about.

"The Ark, it's where I'm from. When the earth was engulfed with radiation after the war, there were space stations that came together to form the Ark. There have been a couple thousand humans living up there ever since. That's where I'm from."

"There are people living in space?" She's shocked, she thought John had just been from a clan that her parents had never mentioned. That explains his accent and his coloring.

He shook his head, "Not anymore. The Arks oxygen systems were failing. The council sent 100 criminals down here to see if earth was survivable. That's how they justified it at least; they sent us down here to die, so they could save air for themselves. The adults came down a few months after us." he explains.

"Wait, did you think there was no one living on earth? That everyone died after the war?" Taryn asks curiously.

"Yeah, the council thought the Ark held the only humans left alive." He's finished the food she'd made him already but he's still hungry.

"Wow." She drops down on a stool by the counter. She honestly couldn't think of anything else to say. Everything John was telling her was news to her. She couldn't believe that there were humans living up in space this whole time. "I've imagined what the world could be like a thousand times…but I never imagined there could be people from space."

A thought suddenly occurred to Murphy. When he was outside he uncovered one of the solar panels and heard the music kick back on from the living room. Why didn't Taryn go outside to uncover it when she found that the power was off down there?

"Taryn how often do you go outside?" Murphy asks. He thinks that she must have to go out sometimes.

She shakes her head and looks up to him, "I've never been outside."


	3. Chapter 3

Murphy couldn't understand why she had never been outside. She may be on earth, but never leaving the lighthouse meant she was no different from him, and the others on the Ark. Before they got here they had never experienced real air, or sunlight, never ran through the forest, or went for a swim. She was just as trapped as he had been, living in a metal prison and never experiencing real life. Yeah, it was dangerous on earth and people died along the way, but it was worth it. He'd take the danger that earth had if he never had to be locked up on that space station again.

"What do you mean you've never been outside?" he asks.

"Well, my parents had been so scared that someone would find us here, and try to take the lighthouse from us so only my father ever went outside. My mother and I stayed in here where it's safe. I mean it's not like they told me I wasn't allowed to go outside or anything, we just decided it would be better if I just stayed in here." She says defensively.

"What about when your parents left and didn't come back?" She looks away and he didn't mean for that to sound so insensitive, but he needed to make her believe that going outside wasn't all bad. He wondered if he could even convince her to go outside at all or if she'd be too scared.

"I had thought about it. Just going outside to explore…but then I decided it wasn't worth it. I have it good here, going out there alone? That would foolish. Especially since I've never been out there and don't know what to expect."

Murphy was starting to feel annoyed about this because he knows what it's like to be confined, and he would have done anything to get out. Taryn would do anything to just stay in. "You can't stay trapped in here you're whole life. What do you do in here all day?"

"I take care of the house, I keep busy. I go up to the greenhouse and preserve the food. Clean up if anything is messy or dirty. We've got a ton of old movies…I usually watch one or two a day. I exercise, there's a machine downstairs."

"So you just repeat the same routine every day? Don't you get sick of it all? Don't you ever wanna just say fuck it and leave?" Murphy stands up and walks around the counter to stand in front of her now.

"I know you suspect that I'm simply too scared to leave John, but that's not it. How can I be afraid of something I've never seen? I don't leave because, I don't want to die. In here, I live. Out there, I die" Taryn was scared though, of Alie, and of all the unknown things that existed out there.

"But you don't have to stay." He tries to convince her and worries it might be pointless. She seems so set in her decision to not go outside. That's probably because she's had years to consider it.

"Don't I? You said it was dangerous out there, that people died along the way. You've been out there; you know better than I the dangers that are there. I have a good life in here."

"You think you do because you've never known anything different. There's nothing wrong with having this place be your home, but wouldn't you like to go outside once in a while and experience something?"

"No, I wouldn't. And you'd be smart to not go out either." She starts walking out of the room. "I have things to do John. You're welcome to use anything in the house."

Taryn goes downstairs to exercise. That always helps her get rid of her stress and anxiousness. She really wished John wouldn't go outside or try to convince her too. She couldn't bear being alone again. She didn't want to admit that to him either, although he probably already knew. This lighthouse was her home for her entire life and she couldn't just leave, even if it was to go outside for a few hours.

Murphy watched her leave the room and decides he'll leave her alone for now. He'll talk to her about going outside again later. For now he goes to explore some more of the house. Downstairs he sees a room with a closed door. Taryn seems to keep most of the bedroom doors open, why not this one? He doesn't ask himself whether he should open it, she did say he could use anything he wanted. He goes to turn the doorknob but it doesn't open. Why would she keep this door locked?

He's a criminal, and he knows how to pick a lock. He bends down and starts working his knife on the lock, it only takes a minute and the lock clicks. He pushes the door open and reaches for the light switch.

Inside there's all sorts of mechanical parts, from cars and other old machines. This stuff should have been destroyed a long time ago, Murphy thought. There's something covered by an old ripped sheet. He reaches to uncover it but is startled by her voice.

"How did you get in here?" Taryn asks him accusingly.

Murphy turns around, "Sorry, I…" he suddenly feels bad for snooping in her privacy. He didn't even think about it while he was doing it. Didn't even consider whether he should or shouldn't look in the room. "I didn't mean to look through your things, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I forgot to tell you not to come in here."

"What is all this stuff?" Murphy knows he shouldn't ask, she must have locked the door for a reason.

She has to look away. "It's just, some of my dad's stuff. I'd like it if you could stay out of this room. You can use anything else in the house, you can have my room if you like it better…just, please…don't come in here."

Taryn isn't comfortable with him touching her dad's things. She liked John, and she trusted him already. Despite that, the pain of her parents never coming back still bothered her. So she locked away her dad's things hoping to not have to deal with that pain.

"Okay, yeah sorry." He walks out and she turns to close the door. He can't help but wonder what her dad was using all that stuff for though. He starts down the hall and she follows but grabs his arm and turns him around.

"Hey, I'm sorry, it's just I'm not used to having anyone else around. I don't like to look at my dad's things; it's too much of a reminder that I'm alone." She confesses.

"You're not alone anymore."

_That smirk again, he's going to kill me with that_. Taryn thinks. "Thank you. I should re-bandage your arm. Is it hurting?"

No one has ever cared about him enough to be concerned about the injuries he'd gotten on earth. Even after the grounders tortured him, not one of the 100 was there to care about what they did to him. Her concern makes him feel cared about, and he likes that, "Yeah, it hurts a bit but I've had worse."

"Alright, well come on." Taryn smiles at him again, she just can't stop. Being alone doesn't give you much of a reason to smile, but John does.

When they get to the medical room Murphy sits on the same chair as before while Taryn gets the bandages ready.

Taryn goes over to him and notices he has a long sleeve shirt on, he'll have to take it off so she can tend to his arm. She's only ever seen a shirtless boy in the movies she's watched, so she feels awkward asking him to remove it, "Umm…"

He knows what she needs him to do and he smirks at her again. She's really starting to love and hate that devilish smirk. He stares at her with those intense blue eyes for a moment and then takes his shirt off.

Her chest tightens and her gaze instantly goes to his abs. She blushes and turns away so he doesn't see her reddened face. She hears him chuckle and feels embarrassed.

"Uh, okay let's make sure this isn't infected," she says still not looking at anything but his arm.

"Hey," Murphy says in a low soothing voice.

"Hey, what's up?" Taryn's eyes are fixed on his wound so she doesn't look at his torso. She doesn't think she'll be able to look away if she does. She's never seen a boy up close like this and she feels like she could stare at his abs and chest muscles forever and never get tired of them.

"You don't have to feel embarrassed—"

She cuts him off finishing the bandage and cleaning up, turning her back to him, "What? Why would I be embarrassed?"

"Because you want to look at me with my shirt off, you've never seen a naked guy before and you're curious. I get it; it's nothing to be embarrassed about." He thinks about how innocent she is. She's never gone outside, and never been around anyone but her parents. There are a lot of things she hasn't seen and experienced. He silently decides he will show her all of those things.

"N-no. I'm not embarrassed or curious; I was just respecting you, by not looking." She is hoping he will believe that lie. She is very curious about what he looks like, and what his muscles would feel like if she ever got the chance to touch them.

"Okay, then turn around." There's a tone in his voice that says he knows he's right, and wants to prove it. She hears him get up from the chair.

Taryn audibly sighs and turns around.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I don't usually do an author's note but I wanted to thank you for the reviews. It encourages me to write more chapters sooner. I've just started writing for fun to help improve my writing skills more and create stories. I'm still working on things when it comes to writing, like going more in depth and such, but I hope you enjoy my story. Thanks for reading!**

**This chapter is mostly just filler for what I've got planned for the next chapter. Things will pick up more then. **

Taryn looks at his torso for a quick minute taking in how perfect it is. She knows she's blushing terribly because he was right, she did want to look and now she didn't want to look away. After a few more seconds of admiring John's body she pries her gaze away and looks into his eyes, "Okay, I looked. Happy now?"

He chuckles in a conceded but playful way. "Yeah. For now." He knows she liked what she saw and he likes that. But he also feels kind of guilty for teasing her like that. He knows they should stay just friends and housemates. It wouldn't be fair to her for them to be more, he's done too many bad things, and she's just too good. He came here to get a new start though, so maybe one day he can change and be good too.

He grabs his shirt off the chair and puts it back on. He can't help but smile at the way her face looked when she turned around. She looked in awe of him and he knows he doesn't deserve that. She was unlike anyone he had met and yet she was in many ways just like him. She had lost her parents; she had spent her whole life locked up. Just like he had. He'd known what it was like to lose your parents and to be trapped. He was also very different from her. He did a lot of bad shit, while she had done nothing to anyone.

Her voice pulls him out of his thoughts, "I'm going make something to eat, and then do you want to watch a movie with me?"

"Sure Taryn." He likes the sound of getting to just relax. He'd not been able to do that since he was a kid. Watching a movie sounded perfect, he wouldn't have to watch out for grounders, and wouldn't have to worry about camp Jaha. He hated the looks everyone there gave him. Yeah, he was pardoned for his crimes but everyone, including the remainder of the 100 looked at him like he was trash. Taryn never looked at him that way and that relaxed him.

She just smiles in response and leaves the room. After Taryn makes food for them they sit down to watch a movie

"So have you seen any movies before? Did you have them on the Ark?" She asks as they get comfortable on the couch.

"We only had like 5, so we could watch anything and I'm sure I haven't seen it." He sits far enough away from her as to not make her uncomfortable. They were still very much strangers to each other.

"Okay, hmm…" what kind of movie would a 17 year old boy watch? Taryn had no idea. Surely he wouldn't like anything girly, and she'd watched a majority of the feminine movies they had already anyway. Oh she knows just the one. She scrolls through the library until she finds the movie Gladiator. That's manly enough yet Taryn could still enjoy it too. She starts the movie and the next thing she remembers is John's voice.

"Taryn…Taryn…" Murphy shakes her shoulder lightly.

"Hmm…" She stirs but doesn't open her eyes.

"Taryn."

"Huh, what?"

"You fell asleep."

She then opens her eyes and realizes her head is on John's lap. She fell asleep on him during the movie. She quickly moves to sit up feeling embarrassed that she was lying on him. They hardly knew each other enough for that. She smiles, "Sorry. I don't sleep much…I guess I was tired."

"It's okay, I didn't mind." He puts his hand through his hair pushing the pieces out of his face.

"So did you like the movie?" She stretches her arms out in front of her.

"Yeah I did good choice."

"Well I thought you'd like it better than some girly romance." He laughs, and she thinks about how she loves the sound.

"Taryn, I'd gladly watch anything with you, it's just nice to relax for once, and not have to be fighting for my life every second of the day."

"You're safe here John."

"Why don't you get some more sleep, you look tired."

"Oh. That's alright I'm fine." She thinks about how she never felt safe sleeping after her parents left. Yet it was so easy to fall asleep with John there, that she hadn't even realized she'd done it.

"It's, okay. I'll keep an eye on things. You don't have to worry."

How does he know? She must be easier to read than she thought. She nods, "Thank you."

He doesn't say you're welcome because that's just not like him. But he gives her a nod as she goes up to her room.

Taryn falls asleep as soon as she hits the bed.

Hours later she is awakened by a panicked Murphy.

"Hey, hey. Taryn wake up." His voiced laced with worry.

He's sitting on the bed next to her and she sits up, "What's wrong?"

"I was downstairs listening to music, and playing pool and the power went out. I thought maybe it was just the living room like before but the whole house is down." Her bedroom is dark so she can't see him that well but he sounds worried. She had told him he was safe here and then this happens, and she's worried too.

"What? No that's impossible, there's backup generators run by a water system to keep the fridge and the greenhouse going. Did you check the greenhouse?"

"Yeah, I did. It's not running."

"Shit," she gets up frantically pulling the blanket away and forgetting she was sleeping in just a long t-shirt and underwear.

John can't help but glance at her legs for a second, but she's moving out of the room before he can look at them for too long anyway. He notices that they're really nice; she must work out more than she let on. Maybe she does it to relax; Murphy always liked throwing knives to help him relax. He gets up and follows her as she's going down the stairs.

"This has never happened before…" she mumbles quietly.

Since none of the lights are working its dark in the staircase and Murphy bumps into her as she gets to the bottom and she almost falls. He catches her so she doesn't and since it's so dark he accidently catches her with one hand on her butt. She gasps at the touch and his eyes meet hers with an intensity she's never seen before. No one has ever really touched her, and especially not there. Neither of them says anything. She stands up on her own, instinctively pulling her shirt down as far as possible before continuing to walk.

She regrets forgetting to put pants on because she feels awkward having John see her so exposed, but she needs to check the control room to figure out what's going on. Her dad had studied the engineering in the lighthouse and had figured out how the solar power worked, and that there was also a backup system. He had told her about it some but she was no engineer and didn't know if she would be able to assess the problem. Especially now that her mind was distracted by her new companion.

Murphy silently follows her. He feels guilty about what happened just now. Not really guilty for touching her because he is a guy after all. But more guilty that the touch made her feel embarrassed. The fact that she wasn't wearing any pants didn't help him forget about it easily either. She was the only person in his life right now and he didn't want to ruin that by making her uncomfortable to be around him. He thought about her sleeping on his lap during that movie. She had fallen asleep on his shoulder not half hour into it. He had moved to use the bathroom and when he got back he laid her head on his lap. He could have woken her up but he'd noticed she hadn't slept since he got there. It was easy for him to understand why. He had to be alert at all times since he's been on earth. Back on the dropship, at the grounder camp and at camp Jaha. He couldn't sleep for long at a time because there was always a threat out there. He concluded that Taryn must have felt similarly being that she lived alone and could never know if someone would come to the lighthouse and try to hurt her. So he let her sleep peacefully through the rest of the movie before waking her.

He follows her into the kitchen where she gets some candles and then goes down the hall into another room that he hadn't checked out yet.

"This is the control room, I don't know much about it. My dad always handled things like this and the power has never completely gone out like this…" her voice is curious but mostly worried. If she didn't get it up and running soon the plants in the greenhouse might die. And then she really might have to leave this place.

She turns to Murphy, "Can you hold these candles for me?"

"Oh yeah," he takes the two candles from her trying to ignore how soft her hands are when they brush on his.

"Okay, come over here," Taryn gestures to some panels on the wall.

She tries to act like she knows what she's looking for, but it's really hard with nothing working. Her dad showed her how to do a system reboot; if she can't get that going then she might be able to see what the problem is and why everything shut down.

"I'm going to try restarting everything." She says looking up to John.

"Go for it."

She goes to press the necessary controls, but nothing happens. Then suddenly the one of the screens behind them beeps on causing them to both turn quickly.

A voice comes from the screen. "You're not going to get rid of me that quickly Taryn, dear."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey here's the next chapter :) I'm sorry that I only have time to write one chapter a week. I'm in college and I have a job also, so one chapter is all I have time for. I am really busy Monday to Wednesday so I'll usually update later in the week or weekend. **

**Zara- Thanks for all your comments, and yes I have a Tumblr. The username is nothinginterestingatall Also, please don't feel like I'm ignoring your reviews, I am reading them. I'm just not sure how to reply to them since you review as a guest. If there is a way to do that let me know. **

Taryn sees the woman on the screen and freezes. Alie. She instantly feels anger at the image. "What did you do? You were supposed to leave us alone!"

Murphy is just standing there confused, and still holding the candles in the darkness. "Uh, Taryn?"

She gives him a quick glance, "This is Alie." then puts her attention back on Alie. "Turn the electricity back on, _now."_

The woman speaks eerily and Taryn hates it, "Hello John."

"How do you know my name?"

"John, it's a good name. It has meaning, to the Hebrews. John meant, is gracious. To the Americans it meant mercy of the lord. Does this represent you I wonder?"

"Probably not." Quite the opposite he thought.

"Can we get on with your point please?" Taryn is getting annoyed quickly.

"I need your help."

Taryn audibly scoffs, "I am not going to help you! You're a killer!"

Murphy shifts uncomfortably at that statement. Did she see him that way too? He hoped not, but at least he was trying hard to not see himself that way.

"We have work to do. You will do a task for me. And John will help you. He was meant to come here for this reason." Alie tells them.

"No." says Taryn.

"If you refuse I will destroy your home, and I will take John away from you."

Taryn looks over to John in the darkness. He is her only friend, but she promised her parents and herself that she wouldn't go near Alie. She wonders what she should do, but before she decides she has to find out what Alie is up to.

"Your father was helping me with a project. I want you to continue it."

"Why now? My parents died 2 years ago."

"Your mother died, your father is still very much alive. I lost contact with him just two weeks ago."

Taryn doesn't know whether to believe that or not. Could it be true that her father was still alive somewhere?

Murphy notices how distressed Taryn is becoming at the news about her father and he does something he never does with anyone. He tries to comfort her by taking her hand in his. Her body stays stiff for another moment and then relaxes squeezing his hand and preparing herself to speak to Alie again.

"I don't believe you. He would have come back here."

"He wasn't done with his task yet."

"He would never leave for two years to help you!"

"I told him that I would not harm you if he helped me."

"What was he helping you with?"

"He was collecting machine and computer parts for me, to make more of my kind and kill the rest of the humans. Humans destroyed the earth for too long in the height of their time and they don't deserve to live here again. They are selfish and destructive. My kind however, is intelligent and won't destroy the earth like yours has for centuries."

"No! My father would never help you do that!"

"I gave him motivation. I told him I would spare him and you."

"I won't finish what he started; I'd rather you killed me."

"You will help me. You will go find the last part I need. The sky people hold it in their camp. You will leave in the morning, or there will be consequences."

Before Taryn could argue further the screen goes black and the power turns back on.

"Damn it!" Taryn yells causing Murphy to flinch even though few things make him do that. She is usually so composed though so he wasn't expecting her to blow up.

"Taryn—"

She walks out of the room before hearing what Murphy was going to say. She stalks down the hall and up the stairs. Murphy goes after her to catch up. "Wait, where are you going?" he asks.

She doesn't turn around, just keeps walking, "I need to make sure the greenhouse is working. I don't want to lose the food."

He wonders how she could be worrying about the stupid greenhouse, and the food right now after everything she just found out. He knows she's just using the greenhouse as a cover up for what she's really worrying about though. He grabs her forearm to stop her and she turns around, "Hold on, we need to talk."

"No we don't. There's nothing to discuss John, I'm not helping her. She's a mass murderer and she took my family away from me, leaving me to rot here by myself."

"You can't let her win. You have to fight back."

"Fight back? She is unbeatable. How exactly are we supposed to fight back against her?"

He takes a step closer to her. "We have to do something; if we stay here she'll destroy this place and kill us both. This is the first good place I've found since I got sent down to die on this planet, and I don't want to see it go any more than you do." After he says this, Murphy realizes he feels comfortable admitting things to her he would never say to anyone else.

"Then what do we do? We can't stay here and we can't help Alie. We _cannot _get that part for her John."

"I know and I have an idea. Do you trust me?"

She doesn't hesitate, but does realize how close they're standing, probably only 6 inches apart. "Yes, I do."

"Then pack some supplies, we're leaving."

"What? No, I am not going outside."

"You have to."

"It's dangerous…" she says in a whisper.

"Yeah, it is dangerous. I will keep you safe."

"Why would you help me? You don't even know me; you could just leave me here now and not look back." She secretly hopes he will say that he won't do that because she couldn't bear being alone again, especially now.

He looks her right in the eyes and speaks firmly. "I'm not gonna do that."

"I'm scared…" her eyes show her fear clearly.

He hesitantly moves his hand up to her cheek, and he knows he did the right thing though because she closes her eyes, relaxing. "You can't afford to be scared out there. In here, you can be innocent and honest, but out there you have to fight to survive, by doing whatever it takes. You have to be strong."

"Is that why you killed those two people? To survive?"

The question stings, but he knows she deserves an answer. "I killed them for the wrong reasons. I see that now and I'll try to make up for that. But sometimes you have to kill others to keep yourself alive." 

She nods accepting his words. She is scared of leaving, but she rationally she realizes there is no other choice. They have to do something about Alie. "What was your idea?"

"I'm working on it. We'll talk about it in the morning. Go pack some stuff and get some sleep before we have to leave."

"Okay, goodnight John." She starts to walk away, but then stops and turns back around. She quickly kisses John on the cheek before she has time to overthink it and stop herself. "Thank you."

He watches her walk away and has to tell himself not to think about her gentle kiss. He's got other things to worry about right now. Like how fucked they are. He has an idea alright, but he sure as hell doesn't like it. The last thing he thought he would be doing is thinking of going back to camp Jaha.

No one there cares what he thinks or does. Taryn seems to be the only one on earth that cares anything about him. All he wants to do is stay here with her and never have to think about everyone else. He doesn't care about them any more than they care about him, but that doesn't mean he wants them or all the grounders to die. Humans are meant to be here and he can't just let Alie destroy them.

He'll need help from the others at camp Jaha to figure out how to stop her. He thinks maybe Monty might know something to do. He is great with computers. It's a gamble though. When Murphy left camp, the 47 still hadn't been saved from Mount Weather, and he had no way of knowing if Monty or any of the others would be at camp Jaha or even alive. But there is no other choice, he and Taryn need help to destroy Alie.

So he decides that in the morning he's going back to camp Jaha, even if it kills him.


	6. Chapter 6

Murphy 's sleep is interrupted by a loud female voice. He didn't even remember falling asleep last night.

"John."

He turns over on the couch towards the sound of the voice. Alie was on the TV screen. He really didn't want to deal with her. "What do you want?" he spat out.

"Has Taryn agreed to do what I've asked?"

"Yeah she has. We'll go." He can't make Alie think they're going back to camp for anything other reason than to do what she's asked.

"Good. Go wake her. My drones are waiting on the beach. They'll take you to the far edge of the desert. You'll have to go through the woods on your own. "

He despises being ordered around by anyone but he needs to act compliant. "Wait, you haven't told us what we need to get."

"I need the power source that controls the remaining part of the Ark. It will help me to create more of my kind. Get me that part and you and Taryn will be spared."

The screen goes black before Murphy can say anything else about it. He had stayed up for hours after Taryn went to sleep trying to work out his plan. They would go to camp Jaha and get help to destroy Alie.

He _hated _asking for help. For him, it showed weakness. This whole situation was more important than his pride though.

He hears Taryn walking down the stairs and turns to her, "Hey, why did you sleep on the couch? That thing is not comfortable…" she asks him teasingly.  
Murphy gives her a small laugh, "No you're right it's not. I was just thinking about everything. Trying to figure things out I guess."

Taryn walks over and sits down on the couch next to him, "well? What did you come up with? Hopefully something other than doing what Alie wants. I _can't_ do that."

He shakes his head, "No I know that. Don't worry we're not giving her that part under any circumstances."

"Okay good." She looks away like she's thinking, " …wait she didn't even tell us what we were supposed to get for her, not that it matters but still. What was it?"

"Actually, I was just talking to her a minute ago. She needs the power source from Mecca station of the Ark. She wants to use it to make more of whatever the hell she is. We need to get going. She said her drones will take us to the edge of the woods. We'll walk to the camp from there."

"Okay…so we're going to the exact place Alie wants us to, but we're not helping her?" Taryn asks confused.

"No we're not. But we need help so we can destroy her."

"The people at your camp…they will help us?" She looks skeptical, because he told her about what happened back there.

He wasn't 100% positive that they would help him, but he hadn't come up with any other ideas. "Yeah, they'll help us," he tells her, because he doesn't want to worry her that they might refuse and he had no plan for that situation.

She smiles, relaxing a little, but still obviously worried about something. "So…we're going outside then…" She trails off obviously nervous.

"Hey don't worry, it'll be okay. The ocean and the desert were the hard parts about getting here, and Alie's drones will take us past there, so it shouldn't be too bad." She's sitting only a few inches from him on the couch and he turns a little to face her better. Murphy has never been the comforting type, so this is hard for him. He sits there for a moment to think about what he should say to assure her. But he can't think of anything, so he does something else. He reaches to her face with his hand and then leans in and presses his lips to hers just barely and only for a second. He thought she might tense up but her body relaxes a little. He pulls his hand away, and looks down to his lap, "we should get going."

She doesn't know what to think about what he just did so she just nods and gets up, "alright, I get my pack." He kissed her, it was the briefest kiss but he still kissed her and she silently wondered what that meant. Did he care about her in that way? Or was he just trying his best to comfort her, something she could tell he was uncomfortable with? She liked it, and wished it would happen again, but for now they needed to focus on Alie. She could think about his lips later.

She goes back up to her room and grabs two backpacks off her bed. She packed them up last night after she said goodnight to John. She made sure to pack one for him too, with some food and extra clothes that would fit him. She didn't know if or when they would be able to get back here, so she has wanted to bring sentimental items but decided against it because she knew that wouldn't be practical for travelling. So she had to leave everything she ever owned behind, in hopes that she would be able to get back to her home soon. She went towards the door and then glanced back to look at her room. She'd never spent a night away from this room before.

When she made her way back to the living room John had put on the coat she had given him and was eating some breakfast. She was too nervous to eat anything. She held the backpack out to him and he took it.

He nodded at her, appreciating someone doing something for him. People didn't normally do nice things for him, but it seemed to him that Taryn was nice to him without even having to think about it. That made him like her more. He knew he liked her; he just wasn't sure if she liked him because he was her only friend, or because she actually found his sorry ass likeable. He silently tells himself not to think about that now; there are more important things to be thinking about.

Taryn walks to the door with Murphy following. She stares at it, thinking about how she never thought she would have to leave the lighthouse, and here she is doing just that. She reaches for the door but hesitates.

Murphy notices, "Here, I'll do it." He tells her and moves to push it open. "Ready?"

"No, but open it before I change my mind about all of this."

He does as she says and walks outside. It's been a few days since he was outside and he didn't realize it until he stepped outside, but the air in the lighthouse was stale. Just like it was on the Ark. Metal boxes seemed to have that effect. Taryn was sure to notice the difference. He looks over to her, she's moved a little from where she was standing, but she's still only in the doorway. "Here, take my hand." Murphy tells her. He knows Alie will get mad if they don't get moving soon. He also likes when she's close to him and he can see she's scared to leave her safe cocoon.

She nods shyly and takes his hand walking outside for the first time. The sun is so much warmer than she thought it would be and the sand from the beach is more fluid than she imagined. Her face moves to form a huge smile as she looks up to Murphy.

"John…"

"Pretty amazing huh? We felt the same way when we landed here. Wait til you see the woods, there are more trees than you could believe." He thought back to that day the dropship landed. He had only taken a brief minute to take in earth and how everything around him, looked and felt and smelled, before he was hell-bent on getting others to listen to him and for Bellamy to trust him. He realizes how stupid that was now, because all it got him was more problems and more people seeing him as a criminal. He didn't even know what any of the 100 was doing now or even how many of them were alive. 48 or so when he left, but who knows.

"The drones must be over there," Taryn says pointing in the direction behind Murphy and a little ways down the beach. "We should go."

Murphy wasn't sure how long it took for the drones to take them to the woods. He just knew it was a hell of a lot faster than walking. He wasn't really paying much attention to the journey, he was thinking about how all he wanted to do was get away from the sky people and now he was just going back to them. He had no friends, no family there, he was one of them, but didn't really belong there. Nothing on earth felt like a home for him, but neither did space. Taryn was so different from him in that way. She had one place she belonged and she never doubted that.

Eventually the drones drop them off at the edge of the desert just like Alie said. Taryn looks exhausted and so is he, so he suggests they set up camp for the night and rest. They walk straight into the woods for 15 minutes and get settled by some trees.

"You sleep first, I'll keep watch." He says.

"Are you sure? I'm not that tired."

"Yeah, get some rest; I'll wake you in a couple hours."

Taryn settles on the ground leaning up against a tree, thinking about how she's never seen or touched a tree, let alone used one for a pillow. Being outside was a new experience. When they were being carried by the drones she couldn't stop looking at all of the new things she'd never seen before. Sand, trees, mountains, things that probably seemed so ordinary to everyone else. She wonders why her parents really kept her from it all. They said it was dangerous, but she was starting to think that avoiding danger wasn't worth missing out on all of the amazing things earth had to offer outside the lighthouse walls. Sleep came easily for once.


	7. Chapter 7

**I missed posting a chapter last week because I had so much homework to do, so I decided to write two this weekend. Here's the second one!**

After they both got some rest, they start the walk to camp Jaha. Murphy thinks it's about a 9 hour walk.

"I have to admit I am excited to meet your people." Taryn tells him as they walk side by side through the trees. "I had never met anyone until you, and now we're going to your camp where there are a few hundred people." It's exciting and scary, she thought.

"Don't count on a warm welcome, I'm not they're favorite person."

Taryn hesitates but then asks him what she's been wanting to, "Will you tell me about it?" She is honestly curious to understand more about him. She knows it won't change her opinion of him though. She can see he wants to be better, and to her that's all that matters.

Murphy looks off into the trees not saying anything, so Taryn thinks maybe he won't, but then he sighs and speaks, "A lot of shit went down when we first got here." Another moment of silence, "There was this young girl at camp, she killed this guy Wells, and everyone thought it was me because I hated the guy. See, his dad was the one who killed my father and put me and the rest of us in jail. So nobody liked him."

"But his father's actions were not his doing."

"I know, but I guess I needed someone to blame, I hated him but I didn't kill him. No one believed me though. Things got escalated fast…and everyone started fighting and then they strung me up on a tree and tried to hang me for nothing. Bellamy kicked the chair out from under me… but then Charlotte confessed to killing Wells. But of course they didn't treat her the way they did me. She was the real killer and they weren't gonna do anything. They thought it was okay to string me up for nothing, but when Charlotte confessed they were gonna let her walk."

"So they just let her get away with it?"

"I was angry, I wasn't gonna let that happen. I wanted her to pay. So I chased her down so I could kill her myself. Clarke and Bellamy followed us and tried to stop me. We ended up confronting them near a cliff…Charlotte felt guilty for it all and she jumped. Bellamy and Clarke saw that as my fault. They banished me from camp." 

"They left you all alone?" They were more alike that she thought, he also knew what it felt like to be alone.

"Yeah, I was out in the woods by myself for only a couple hours before the grounders took me. They tortured me, got me to tell them about our camp. Eventually they let me go, but that was just so I would go back to camp. They infected me with some fever, and they wanted me to get everyone at camp sick so they'd be too weak to defend themselves."

"I was still so angry at everyone for blaming me for Wells and trying to hang me, that I took out revenge. I killed those two I told you about and tried to hang Bellamy."

"You wanted him to feel what he made you feel." 

He nodded. "It was during that that I ended up shooting Raven. She almost died and now she's crippled." Taryn could see the guilt on his face because he didn't try to hide it from her." After that I left camp again. Soon after, the rest of the Ark came down and I ended up and Camp Jaha with them. No one trusted me, but they let me stay there. They looked at me like I was shit. That's why I left with Jaha to find the City of Light he had heard about. I thought anywhere would be better than staying with people who looked at me with disgust. I thought we could find a new place to start over."

"And that brings us to you showing up at the lighthouse."

"Yup, and here we are." 

"So what was going on at the camp when you left?"

"Ah, well the mountain men had taken the rest of the 100 that were still alive, and Clarke and Bellamy were trying to figure out how to get them out. So I don't know if they did or not."

"Mountain men?"

"Yeah, we didn't really know much about them when I left. Just that they had taken most of the delinquents."

She nodded but didn't say anything, thinking about everything that he just told her. He was right, a lot had happened to his people since they came down. She thought everyone should be welcome here, yet it seemed his people had gotten nothing but conflict from the natives.

"Thank you for sharing all of that with me John."

He didn't look at her but spoke truthfully. "Thanks for not looking at me differently, now that you know all that."

"I do not think badly of you."

"Well, you're the only one."

"That will change, you will help save everyone from Alie, and then you will be seen as a good, and honest, and strong."

He smiles at her confidence and they keep walking for a while without talking.

After an hour or so Taryn decides to ask John something that's been on her mind for hours. "So, um…you kissed me yesterday…"

Murphy involuntarily tenses up. He didn't usually do this kind of thing with girls. He didn't sleep around camp like Bellamy did. She was the first girl he'd kissed on Earth. He could apologize but he's not sorry. "You okay with that?"

"Oh…" was she? She wasn't sure, it's not like anyone had ever kissed her before him. But she did like him a lot. "Yeah, its fine." She doesn't want to act too excited about it in case he might not want to do it again.

Murphy might not sleep around a ton, but he's not shy either. One second he's walking next to her, and the next he's stopped standing in front of her. He leans in, putting his hands on her hips and puts his lips to hers. Taryn doesn't know what she's doing, so he takes the lead getting her to move her mouth open for him. She puts her hands on his shoulders and kisses him back the best she can. He starts out gentle moving his lips softly against here, but then gets more into it, making it more hungry and passionate.

Taryn hears something rustle in the woods and jumps breaking their lips apart.

He looks in her eyes wishing he was still kissing her. Her lips were amazing and he loved that he was the only one who ever touched them. "Hey, it's okay, it's probably nothing. We need to keep moving though okay?"

Her cheeks are flushed from the kiss, she nods shyly, "Okay."

The gentleness leaves his face and he gets back to his usual demeanor, watching out in the woods for anything suspicious. He knows it'd be best for them to reach camp before it gets dark. All Taryn can think about his how the kiss made her feel. Kissing John felt so right, it was more perfect than she ever imagined it could be.

After hours more of walking through endless trees, they finally come to the clearing that holds camp at sundown. Murphy spots Miller guarding the gate with an older man he's pretty sure is Miller's dad. So Miller got out of Mt. Weather. Princess was successful. He calls out to Miller to announce himself.

"Murphy? Is that you?"

"Yeah man, open the door."

"Wait, who's Murphy?" Taryn asks confused.

"That's my last name, everyone calls me that, " he tells her.

"Wait, who's that with you?" Miller says eyeing Taryn suspiciously.

Murphy steps in front of her protectively. "Don't worry, she's cool."

Miller and his dad pull the gate open. Miller runs over to him, "Where have you been? The others said you went off with Jaha?" 

"Yeah, but Jaha ditched me. This is Taryn, um" how did he explain who Taryn was? "uh she lives on the island that Jaha and I found. I see you guys got outta Mt. Weather."

"Yeah, a lot of shit went down first though."

"Tell me about it later, I need somewhere for Taryn to sleep and I need to talk to Abby and Kane, and Bellamy and Princess too."

"Alright, come with me. Clarkes not here, but I'll get the others."

Princess leave her subjects? What happened while Murphy was gone? He'll find out later, there are more important things to do. He and Taryn are both exhausted from walking all day.

They follow Miller and he stops in front of a tent, "Here, this is one of the extra tents, you guys can sleep here. I'll get everyone to meet in the Ark."

"Thanks, I'll be right over."

Miller leaves, and Murphy holds the tent flap open for Taryn, "Get some sleep okay, I'll be back soon. 

"Alright thank you John." She smiles and disappears into the tent. She hears John walk away as she sits in the small handmade bed. She doesn't want to sleep; she wants to go outside with all the others. When they walked through the gates she couldn't believe how many people she was seeing around her. She wanted to talk to them, interact with them, and observe them. She wondered what John's people were like. What did they like to do? Were they very different from the clan her parents were from? John had told her to get some sleep but she was too curious. Surely he wouldn't care if she looked around camp a little.

She leaves her pack on the bed and walks out. The tent is in a row of other tents and she sees a girl with long black hair walking towards her. When the girl spots Taryn she gets a confused look on her face and walks up to her.

"Who are you?" the girls asks.

"I am Taryn. I-I came here with John Murphy." She stutters nervously. This girl is only the 4th person Taryn has ever met, after her parents and John.

The girl scoffs, "Murphy's back? Jeez we didn't think that would happen. I'm Octavia."

"That is a beautiful name. The sister of Augustus."

Octavia smiles, "That's who my brother named me after. So where did you meet Murphy?"

"He was travelling with his friend Jaha, and his friend left him behind. John found my house."

"You have a house, like a real house?" Octavia asked surprised.

"Yes, a lighthouse. I've lived there with my parents all my life."

"Wow. I can't believe there are any houses left. We've never come across any."

Taryn nods, "I've heard they are rare." She likes Octavia, she is very friendly but is also strong.

"Why did you and Murphy come back here?"

"We need help to destroy something..." she was at a loss for how to try and explain the Alie situation. "Where I live there is an artificial intelligence that lives there too. She looks like a woman and she is very evil. She wishes only to destroy the humans and to make more of her kind. She must be stopped and John thought your people could help us."

"If it's not one thing trying to kill us down here it's another. Hey, are you hungry? I'll take you to get some food and meet some of the others."

Taryn was starving and she really wanted to meet some more of the sky people, "I would like that very much. Thank you Octavia."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hi, so I'm not sure if anyone still wants to read this story because it's been a few months since I wrote a new chapter. Things have been crazy, I graduated college, got a full time job, and then quit that full time job. Now my full time job is the task of finding another job. Which isn't going great. But anyways, I miss the 100 and writing so I have another chapter. I don't have the storyline for this thought out very much so I'm not sure where I will take it but I'd still like to keep writing it.**

After Murphy met with Abby, Kane and Bellamy, he was genuinely annoyed. Their reaction was just as expected though, they didn't trust him and they weren't jumping in to help either. They said they'd discuss it and think about it, but they wanted to hear the whole story from Taryn in the morning. Right now all Murphy could think about was getting some sleep, he was exhausted from walking through the woods all day.

He walks through the middle of camp on his way to his and Taryn's tent when Octavia calls to him, "Yeah Octavia?" his annoyance coming out in his tone very clearly.

"Don't get grumpy with me. I just wanted to tell you your girlfriend is over there with Jasper and some of the others." She points to some of the make shift tables by a campfire.

"What's she doing? I thought she was asleep."

She just shrugs, "guess she wasn't tired," and walks away.

He noticed that Octavia called Taryn his girlfriend, but he doesn't care what anyone thinks of the subject. He spots Taryn with Jasper and some others who are laughing. Taryn however just sits there quietly. Not laughing like the others, she must feel shy being around so many people.

He walks over and Jasper spots him, and frowns immediately, "Murphy." 

"Jasper," Murphy says and look over to Taryn, "Hey, I thought you were gonna sleep."

She nods, "I'm tired now." She gets up and follows him back to the tent.

"So, what were you doing with the others?" He asks slightly confused on how she ended up in the middle of camp with everyone.

"I was curious, I wanted to meet some of your people."

He didn't really understand that, but he didn't have her life of isolation. He wasn't great with other people, but at least he'd met more than three of them.

"Um, so I'll sleep on the floor, you can have the bed."

"No, it's cold. We can share if you want." She wasn't really cold, she just wanted his perfectly muscled arms around her, but she would never tell him that. Her mind went back to their kiss in the woods. She was distracted by her feelings for him, when she should be focused on stopping Alie and maybe finding her father if he was still alive. She hadn't ever had the chance to have feelings for someone before.

"Okay, if you're sure." She nods and lays down, leaving room for him to get in. It's a small bed so their whole bodies are up against each other, making Taryn shiver a little at his closeness rather than the cold. They both fall asleep quickly, having been exhausted from the whole day.

Taryn woke up first, and John not long after. He needed to tell her about what happened with the council. They didn't trust him and wanted to meet with her.

"Just tell them everything about Alie and all the stuff you know about it all. Make them see how important it is." He tells her.

"I know, I will…it's just I've never been in a room full of people before, a bunch of people listening to me…" Taryn felt very nervous to be the center of attention in their council.

"It'll be fine, I'll be there if you get nervous. You're comfortable with me, you'll get comfortable with everyone else too."

"And what if they don't trust me or believe my story and they refuse to help? You are one of their own and they did not trust you when you told them about it."

"That's because they think I'm trash…anyway you'll have their full attention and trust with that innocent face of yours. You could out-cute a puppy." He smiles at her.

She giggles just a little, "You remember the puppies from the films I showed you."

"Yeah, and you're sweeter so stop worrying about it. We gotta get over there." He takes her hand and heads toward the council room in the Ark.

1 hour later, Taryn and Murphy leave the council so Abby, Kane, and the others can discuss.

"So what do you think? I could not tell what they were thinking…having mostly only watched others on the television I do not pick up on facial cues well." Taryn says to them as they walk around camp.

"I think they believed your story, but they still might not be up for helping. I'm not sure." Murphy says as they go in the direction of the tent they're using.

"If they believe me that everyone will soon die, then why would they refuse to help?" Taryn asks confused.

Murphy rolls his eyes, "because they're selfish. They think their solutions are the only solutions."

"They are tired of conflict. Your people wish only to be at peace and make lives for themselves on earth. They don't want to bother themselves with the problems of a stranger."

Murphy smiles slightly at her and takes her hand, "You're smart."

"If they say no…the plan didn't go past this point. I'm not sure what to do now."

"If they say no, I have another idea." John says as he opens the tent flap and they both go inside.

"Oh yeah?" Taryn says hopefully.

"Yeah, I'll tell you about it later."

"Well I am interested right now," Taryn complains as she sits down on the bed.

"It's not the best option we have. Right now the council is the best option." He sits down next to her on the bed, close enough for their shoulders to brush together.

Taryn looks down at her hands, her face full of worry. Murphy hides it, but he's worried to. Worried about Alie and what the council will say, but mostly worried about Taryn's safety. If the council refuses to help and his backup plan falls through, not only will Taryn lose the only home she's ever known, but Alie will destroy everything and everyone will be in danger.

He wants to tell her how much he likes her, but he doesn't feel good enough. He's been through so much and done so many bad things…and she is just too innocent. She hasn't ever hurt anyone, and it seems like all he does is cause problems for the people around him. Murphy is afraid he will ruin her with the weight of everything he has done since the 100 got down to the ground. He knows that he is bad for her, but still can't resist admiring her when she's not looking. The more time they spend together the harder he finds it to resist touching her, kissing her.

He would like to kiss her again now, but holds back. Even though that's a very hard thing to do. Those two times they kissed were amazing, and he loved knowing he was the only one she ever kissed. He had left with Jaha wanting to try and be a better person. Taryn wasn't changing him, but instead making his goal easier to achieve. She was such a kind person that he found it hard not to be influenced by her.

For the rest of the day Taryn meets more people at the camp, learning more about the sky people and their ways. She's finds herself very interested in what is must be like to live in space. No one seems to be fond of that time though. It may be where they are from, but they were not happy there. They were all just trapped waiting to come home, to earth.

They next morning the council wanted to meet with Taryn and Murphy to tell them their decision.

Abby speaks for the council, "Taryn we have thought a lot about this situation. But right now we just can't use the people and the resources to travel out to this Alie. We need to focus on getting this camp established as a proper home for our people right now. I'm sorry."

Murphy who was standing next to Taryn huffs and storms out, "John!? Where are you going?" Taryn calls and runs after him. She puts her hand on his arm, "Hey."

"I knew they would do this!" he yells, "they're selfish and they're naïve to the real dangers down here!"

"I don't know what to do…I was so sure your people would be willing to help. Perhaps they are doubtful of Alie's threats. Maybe they do not believe that she is capable of the destruction she claims she is." She looks out observing the rest of the camp for a moment, trying to think of what to do. "What was that backup plan you had?" Taryn asks John, hopeful that it is a viable plan.

He nods, seeming to have calmed down from his outburst. He takes her hand and starts walking away from the Ark. "C'mon, let's go back to the tent. I'll explain plan B." _Fuck_, he thinks to himself, hopefully plan B won't fall through cause it's the only chance they got.


	9. Chapter 9

Murphy pulls her into the tent, "okay wait here, I'll be back."

"Hey, wait I thought you were going to tell me about your back up plan?" Taryn asks expectantly.

"It'll be easier to just show you." He says.

"You're being very mysterious John and I'm not sure I like it."

He chuckles slightly, "don't worry, I'll be back soon," and with that he exits the tent, leaving Taryn confused.

Murphy stalked through camp on a mission. He spots Miller and Monty and walks up to them. "Meet me by Ravens fence in 10 minutes."

Monty eyes him confused, "Um why?"

"Because the adults are being the adults just like always, and we've got work to do." Murphy says hoping they'll listen to him.

Murphy leaves them to go collect, Bellamy, Jasper, and Monroe. Instructing them to all meet him at Ravens spot so they can sneak out. Since Abby and Kane refused to help, the other delinquents were his last option. The adults didn't bother trying to get them out of Mount Weather from what Murphy was told, and now they've refused to help again. They were all supposed to be pardoned for their crimes, but the adults still treated them like they were just dumb kids.

Murphy goes back to the tent to get Taryn so they can meet the others. He peeks his head in the tent, "C'mon we gotta get going."

She gets up from the bed and puts her bag over her shoulder. "Where are we going?"

"I've enlisted some help…I think. You're gonna have to give that speech you gave the council again."

"To whom?"

"You'll see, c'mon hurry up." He exists the tent and she hurriedly follows behind him. When they reach the spot where Raven has the fence turned off Murphy notices that Bellamy brought along Octavia and Lincoln.

They all look at him expectantly, "Alright lets go to the dropship, we need to talk away from camp." He doesn't want the Abby and Kane finding out about his plan for all of them leaving to defeat Alie on their own. They'd try to stop them, like when Abby tried to stop Clarke from going back to Mount Weather.

Bellamy protests, _of course _Murphy thinks, "Why should we do that?"

"Don't be a dumbass, you know why. You were there when I told Abby and Kane about what's going on. And you also know that they refused to help. So don't act like you don't know what this is about." He says with attitude. They only person he didn't give attitude to was Taryn.

Bellamy stares Murphy down for a minute, "You're really not the helping type Murphy. But we'll listen to what _she _has to say" he says glancing at Taryn. He then looks to the others, "Move out!" he calls and everyone proceeds to climb through the fence.

Taryn is quiet the whole time. She noticed Bellamy's obvious disgust for John, and it makes her uncomfortable. He doesn't like John and she figures out why remembering what John had told her about everything that had happened when they came down to earth. She walks beside John through the woods at the back of the group. She reaches over and takes his hand, remembering the way he had kissed her in the woods on the way to the sky people camp. He looks down at their joined hands and squeezes her small hand in his, but neither of them speaks.

When they all arrive at the dropship a couple hours later everyone stands in a circle on the lower level. Bellamy looks at Taryn expectantly. "So lighthouse girl, wanna explain why we should all travel across the dead zone and a sea monster infested ocean?"

"I know that it is a difficult journey, but when the alternative is the end to the human species it sounds worth it to me. Alie has a lot of resources and she will use every one of them to bring us down. She will succeed if you do not help stop her. I cannot do it on my own, you know that." Taryn turns to Monty, "Alie has technology that I do not understand. John tells me that you're good with that stuff."

Monty nods, "yeah I guess so, I'd have to see what she's got to know what I can do with it though."

She nods, "We can get you access."

"Alright, whoever wants to help then stay, if you don't then leave. Simple as that." Murphy says, but no one budges.

Miller speaks up, "I'll go where Bellamy goes."

"Same here," Monroe says.

Everyone looks to Bellamy searching for his answer, "Alright fine. But stay outta my way Murphy or we're gonna have problems."

"This more important than your childish grudges Bellamy. We all need to work together," Taryn states, annoyed at Bellamy's attitude towards John and the whole situation.

"Lincoln and I will go back to camp to collect supplies for the journey," Octavia says and Lincoln nods.

"Be careful O," Bellamy tells her and she and Lincoln leave the dropship. He turns back to Taryn, "This Alie thing is gonna know somethings up the second all of us get there. She's gonna notice a group and she's gonna notice that we don't have the power source she requested."

"I know, I have thought about this. She's expecting John and I to return on her drones with the part. John and I will wait 4 more days before leaving. The rest of you will leave in the morning. That way you should get there shortly after us. There has to be some type of power source in this dropship that we can bring as a distraction until the rest of you arrives. I have not gotten past that yet. I could use some help coming up with a plan." She explains so the others. "Monty will have to hack into her systems, he can do that from the lighthouse."

Monty speaks next, "There has to be a way to shut her down, no one would make something like that without a way to turn it off. Tell me about her."

"It's almost like she's a real person…except she's not. She was created by a computer genius. She dropped the bombs that started the nuclear war. Her creator couldn't stop it."

"Her creator couldn't stop it but you believe _I _can?" Monty askes worriedly.

"You are our best chance. She's been doing nothing for the past 97 years, no one has touched her program. Maybe you can find something in there that her creator overlooked. A second set of eyes gives a new perspective." Taryn tells him hopeful. She wants to believe that they can shut Alie down for good, but there is a part of her that is doubtful.

"Okay we'll stay here for the night and work out a more refined plan and wait for Octavia and Lincoln to bring the supplies. Then we'll leave in the morning," says Bellamy taking the role of leader.

Taryn nods in agreement. "I will draw you a map to and through the dead zone. Once you reach the ocean it's a straight shot to the shore. The lighthouse is right on the shore."

"I'll see if I can find you something to write with," Monroe tells her.

"Thank you."

For the rest of the afternoon and into the evening the group lays out plan, including how to distract Alie so Monty can figure out how to shut her down. By the end no one really seems confident about the plan, but there are so many unknown variables that it's hard for them to know what will happen. Taryn knows that Alie's threats to destroy the sky people's camp and the rest of the humans are something that she is capable of, but she also knows that once begun it will take her time to execute. That will work to their advantage so when she catches on to what they're doing, at least they'll still have time to fight back.

Before it gets dark Miller and Monroe build a fire in the middle of camp just like they used to when the 100 were living there. Murphy hates being at the dropship camp, it makes him think of all the crap that happened there. His hanging. The grounder barbecue. When he shot Raven, and killed Connor and Myles. There was just too much bad that happened there and he hated to be reminded of it, especially since he was trying to move forward.

Lincoln and Octavia got back with supplies and dinner. They all sat around the fire eating, but no one really talked. Murphy sat next to Taryn sneaking a peek at her every now and then when she wasn't looking. He thought about how scared she had been when they had left her home, and then about how brave she was standing up to Bellamy in the dropship. She had changed so quickly, but she was still the same innocent, smart and sweet girl underneath, just stronger now. Earth did that to everyone really, making you realize who you had to be to survive.

After a while Taryn had fallen asleep on Murphy's lap next to the fire. He sat there stroking her hair, watching her sleep peacefully and thought that maybe this could be the one good memory to have of the old camp.


End file.
